Hello DTTS community!
First, I want to express my deep gratitude to everyone for listening to Season 6. And if you haven’t had a chance to dive in yet, we’ve provided a recap below so you can catch up as we begin work on the next set of episodes. We are excited to bring you some wonderful conversations with disabled creatives, climate activists, educators, and others. Stay tuned!
Last month, I talked about the disability justice principle of sustainability, and how it gives us permission to experience joy and abundance that is essential to ensuring the longevity of our movement. After all, the purpose of our struggle is so that we all can experience life in whatever ways we choose. Joy and abundance are a huge part of that.
As I strive to practice these principles, I have been reflecting on how to incorporate sustainability into my own life. It brings to mind Haben Girma’s wise words in the Season 6 finale, where we spoke about how true access and inclusion, more often than not, require everyone to slow down:
“Part of accessibility is patience, holding space for all the different ways we voice and listen.”
Often, the pace of work, family, friends, and life in general does not allow us to slow down to create access for one another. There have been countless moments in my life where access has been denied because it would take too long or be “inefficient,” or when I myself have chosen the less accessible path when engaging with others because of time pressure. The grind of “productivity” and proving our “value” is antithetical to slowing down.
But slowing down is the greatest gift we can give ourselves and those around us—taking more time to communicate, as Haben and I did during our interview, so that everyone could be understood and heard. Meaning and connection emerge when people take an extra two minutes to create an image description, or caption a video clip so that everyone can experience something new.
Giving ourselves and others more time, and more importantly, the permission to take that time, brings us all closer together. I’m very late in sending out this newsletter, but I wanted to wait until I could write without rush, outside of the swirl of pressing deadlines and demands. I hope my reflections are the better for it.
As we head into June, I challenge all of us to take one moment in our day to slow down. If you catch yourself rushing through a task or a conversation with a friend or colleague, take a moment to pause, to breathe, and think about how to lean into those moments with patience and ease. Think about how you might take extra time to build access into your interactions with others around you—whether it is writing an image description for a social media post or doing some quick research to figure out how to make a document accessible. Once we begin to hold space for access, slowly over time it will become habit.
Season 6 recap
This season of Down to the Struts took listeners from an artist’s studio to outer space and back again. Catch up on the season, or revisit your favorite episodes, with the links below. And if you enjoyed the season, please remember to leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts or wherever you listen — it really helps us bring these important conversations to more listeners around the world.
Episode 1: Cripping Culture with Andraéa LaVant
Andraéa LaVant, the president and founder of LaVant Consulting, tells Qudsiya about her journey to becoming a disability activist, her role as the impact producer for the acclaimed film, Crip Camp, and the creation of LaVant Consulting, a firm dedicated to shaping the way the world reaches, views, and values people with disabilities.
Episode 2: Embodying the Body with Bhavna Mehta
Bhavna Mehta is an Indian American artist specializing in cut paper and embroidery. She has exhibited widely across Southern California, and she lives and works in San Diego. Qudsiya and Bhavna talked about her journey from India to the United States, and its connection to her journey living in her disabled body. She describes both as forms of immigration.
Episode 3: Empowering Disabled Refugees with Mustafa Rfat
Qudsiya is joined by Mustafa Rfat, a PhD researcher at Washington Unviersity in St. Louis. Qudsiya and Mustafa talked about Mustafa’s experiences navigating the refugee resettlement process as a disabled refugee, and his concrete recommendations for resettlement agencies, disability services organizations, and policymakers for designing services that meet the intersectional needs of this population.
Episode 4: Disabled in Space with NASA’s Denna Lambert
Qudsiya is joined by NASA’s Denna Lambert, for a conversation about Denna’s efforts to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in space innovation and exploration. They talk about Denna’s experience as part of the second disabled cohort to experience zero gravity and its implications for access here on Earth, and how being a single mom to a four-year-old is sometimes like being in space.
Episode 5: Disabled Gaming with May Wong
Qudsiya interviews May Wong, lead game designer at Interior Night, about their debut game, As Dusk Falls, which received rave reviews, including for its accessibility for disabled gamers. Qudsiya and May talk about how access was built into the game design and the lessons May learned from the experience.
Episode 6: Empowered Interdependence with Haben Girma
In the final episode of season 6, Qudsiya is joined by Haben Girma, a human rights lawyer, author and disability activist who is the first Deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School. Haben and Qudsiya talk about centering access, and why it is the key to achieving empowered interdependence to tear down the ableist social and physical structures that surround us.
Bonus episode: Remembering Judy Heumann
On March 4, 2023, the disability community lost one of its most significant leaders—Judy Heumann left us to carry on her legacy of demanding that disabled people have the right and the opportunity to live in their communities, access employment, go to school, and so much more. Beyond being a dedicated and savvy international disability rights advocate, she was a beautiful and kind soul, a connector, and a bridge-builder. Qudsiya shares Season 4, episode 1, “Reflections on the Disability Revolution” as a tribute to Judy’s life and legacy.
Thanks for reading our newsletter this month. We’ll be back in your inboxes next month with more updates from the podcast and the disability community!
In solidarity,
Qudsiya